Brahman alone Real

YOUNG MAN: "Sir, what is Knowledge?" 

MASTER: "It is to know that God is the only Reality and that all else is unreal. That which is the Real is also called Brahman. It has another name: Kala, Time. There is a saying, 'O brother, how many things come into being in Time and disappear in Time!' 

"That which sports with Kala is called Kāli. She is the Primal Energy. Kala and Kāli, Brahman and Śakti, are indivisible. 

"That Brahman, of the nature of Reality, is eternal. It exists in past, present, and future. It is without beginning or end. It cannot be described in words. The utmost that can be said of Brahman is that It is of the very nature of Intelligence and Bliss. 

"The world is illusory; Brahman alone is real. The world is of the nature of magic. The magician is real but his magic is unreal"  

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 585 (02 October 1884)

Thorny Plant

 

Dying in Benares

 

Māyā hides Knowledge

DEVOTEE: "Why don't we feel dispassion toward worldly objects?"  

MASTER: "Because of māyā. Through māyā one feels the Real to be the unreal and the unreal to be the Real. The Real means That which is eternal, the Supreme Brahman; and the unreal means that which is non-eternal, that is to say, the world." 

DEVOTEE: "We read the scriptures. Why is it that we can't assimilate them?" 

MASTER: "What will one accomplish by mere reading? One needs spiritual practice - austerity. Call on God. What is the use of merely repeating the word 'siddhi'? One must eat a little of it.”  

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 583 (02 October 1884)

Darkness of Mind

 

Great Cause

 

Signs of God-vision

TRAILOKYA: What are the signs of a householder having attained Knowledge?" 

MASTER: "His tears will flow, and the hair on his body will stand on end. No sooner does he hear the sweet name of God than the hair on his body stands on end from sheer delight, and tears roll down his cheeks. "A man cannot get rid of body-consciousness as long as he is attached to worldly things and loves 'woman and gold'. As he becomes less and less attached to worldly things, he approaches nearer and nearer to the Knowledge of Self. He also becomes less and less conscious of his body. He attains Self-Knowledge when his worldly attachment totally disappears. Then he realizes that body and soul are two separate things. It is very difficult to separate with a knife the kernel of a coconut from the shell before the milk inside has dried up. When the milk dries up, the kernel rattles inside the shell. At that time it loosens itself from the shell. Then the fruit is called a dry coconut. 

The sign of a man's having realized God is that he has become like a dry coconut. He has become utterly free from the consciousness that he is the body. He does not feel happy or unhappy with the happiness or unhappiness of the body. He does not seek the comforts of the body. He roams about in the world as a jivanmukta, one liberated in life.” 

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 629 (19 October 1884)